Takumi's First Week
by mikeanike101
Summary: Takumi meets the Hokage. lots of fun. some mysteriousness.
1. Chapter 1

**This story is from tamuki's point of view.**

**disclaimer: don't own anything.**

I knew, the less the ninja knew of my past, the easier it would be to start my new life here. My cover story as a retired shinobi from some poor village wanting to live the rest of my life as a carpenter should work fine, as all shinobi know of the hardships faced in their line of work. I'd just have to keep my extensive knowledge of their "world" secret and everything should be fine. I slowly became aware of Sakura talking to me.

"excuse me, Takumi, are you okay?" she asked?

"yeah, just zoned out a bit. What were you saying?"

"I was wondering if you remembered how you were injured." I gulped. If she knew half of what I had been involved in at the time, whether it was with good intentions or not, she probably would have had me arrested right then and there.

"Nope, not at all. I'm thinking, though, that that rather severe concussion of mine had something to do with that. Short term memory loss and all that. I had been running though, so I must have been conscious at the time. Maybe I'll remember something in a couple of days."

"If you don't remember anything, how do you know you were running?" She seemed suspicious. I guess I should try to keep my observations to myself, might help me stay inconspicuous.

"Come now, Sakura, your a doctor in training aren't you? How else does an Achilles tendon get ripped?" It seemed obvious, really.

"Oh, anyways, judging by how much Tsunade was able to heal you last night, you should be able to leave in 3 days."

"You mean 3 hours right?" I asked.

"No, definitely 3 days, and if you even think about leaving sooner, I will personally tie you to the bed." The pink haired kunoichi stated.

"Have many unruly patients lately?" I chuckled, knowing exactly how shinobi could be as patients. "But really, examine me, I should be ready to leave _today_."

"Not possible, the only person that I know that can heal that fast is..." she said, examining me nonetheless. She got suddenly quiet, muttering under her breath. She suddenly gasped and quickly left the room, locking the door behind her. Wondering what she was up to, I got up and walked to the door to listen. I realized all I was wearing were some scrubs and silently cursed. I really needed to get my traveling clothes back.

I heard her calling for floor security personnel and realized my mistake. Regular people, I suppose, weren't supposed to heal from permanently disabling and possibly lethal injuries in a day. This could possibly cause some problems. I sensed two at least chunin level guards take position outside my door. Sighing, I started looking for the tools of my trade. Nothing in the drawers, nothing under the bed, nothing in the closet. I sighed again, deciding to not stir the waters by sneaking off in search of my possessions.

I knocked on the door attempting to gain their attention and failed miserably. "Come on, I know you're standing out there. I can hear you both. I just want something to eat. And maybe some decent clothes."

I heard them shifting a little and decided to push my luck. "Hey, chunin, you're lucky I actually appreciate what ya've done for me, or I'd be out of hear by now, and on my way to mischief."

That got a reaction. One of them, the female, opened the door and gave me a glare. "What do you want, sir?" she bit out.

"If at all possible, I would like a meal and my clothes please." I replied stiffly.

"Not possible." came the swift reply.

"Why not? I thought patients _required_ good nutrition to heal properly."

"You may have a meal after you meet with the Hokage. She has some questions for you. Your clothes and other possessions you will have to wait and hope for." she bit out none too nicely before closing the door in my face. Resigned to my position, I returned to bed.

Soon enough, I heard a commotion down the hall.

"Hokage-sama, you're supposed to be meeting with the council right now!" exclaimed a young woman.

"Go tell them I'm taking care of a security risk, that should hold them off for a few hours." replied a far older woman, who I could only assume was the Hokage.

"But, but, that's the third time you've blown them off this week!"

"Look, Shizune, you can tell them to shove it for all I care. Now are you going to record this conversation, or what?" the Hokage said as she burst through the door. I had heard rumors of the Hokage's...assets, before, but seeing her in person was something else. I mean, they just _Bounced._ To my own disgust, it was all I could do at the moment to keep my eyes on her face.

"So, who are you?" direct and to the point. I liked that.

"A wandering shinobi, in search of a place to settle down and practice my skills at carpentry." I answered at least partially honestly.

"Why were you injured?"

"You already know that I don't know." I sighed.

"I asked why you obtained the injuries, not how. Frankly, I don't trust you. There's no way a regular shinobi like you should be able to heal this fast. And there's definitely no way that you could heal that fast and still forget what caused the injuries in the first place. So why don't you tell me why you got those injuries and what you were doing just a few miles from the borders of Konoha." I decided to then and there to at least partially level with her. It might help me out in the long run.

"I was traveling with a small convoy delivering goods to a small village not far from here, when it was attacked in the dead of night by a group of shinobi using earth techniques. While fighting, I got swept up in a powerful earth based attack that crushed me and caused most of the injuries you must have found me with. As for the abnormal healing, I simply go into a meditative state to focus my chakra to each of my injuries where it stimulates cell growth, and helps knit together bones and tissue. Also you don't have to trust me." I finish.

"And why not?" Tsunade asks.

"If you give me my clothes and other possessions, I'll show you."

"Your clothes you can have. Your weapons will stay confiscated for now." she replied.

"Fine." I knew that once I had my pack, the letter therein would be more than enough to gain her official approval of me.

The Hokage knocked on the door. When one of the guards poked in their head, she said "go get the patients clothes and pack. Leave the weapons."

"Yes, Hokage-sama." responded the guard.

A few minutes later the guard returned, pack and clothes in hand. Opening it, I pulled a folded sheet of paper and handed it to the Hokage.

"Whats this?" she asked.

"Just read it." she did so, her eyes growing wide.

"Where did you get this?" she seemed surprised. she probably should be.

"I think where is pretty obvious." it was.

"How did you get this?"

"Tell you what. Give me a week to settle in a little, and we can meet then to, _discuss,_ this letter as well as any role I may be allowed to play in your village's future." I figured the letter would cover me for now. I could prove myself later.

"Fine." she grated out. She was not happy with this. "I'm guessing you'll want your weapons back."

"That would be good, thank you. Till next week then."

"Yes, till next week."

**Thanks for reading**


	2. Chapter 2

**This story is from Tenten's point of view.**

**Disclaimer: don't own nothing.**

I was just finishing up with cleaning my kunais and was about to move on to my shuriken when a stranger walked in. He was obviously a shinobi of some experience, but I didn't recognize him. This was odd as I knew of almost every shinobi in town, after all, they all shopped here for weapons.

Oh, I forgot to mention, my family owns and operates Konoha's premier weapon forging, repair, and supply shop. While more expensive then most other suppliers, if one wants a weapon that will be more than a tool, we can help you. We don't make the weapons at the shop itself, it's simply for selling and cleaning. At the center, we have a sparing mat/area for trying out new weapons before you buy them. All the jounin and most of the chunin come here for everything they need. Most of the clans also use us to supply their new gennin. So it was surprising when I didn't recognize this man.

"Can I help you?" I asked.

"Yes, I think you can. I need my swords cleaned, my trench knife sharpened, and my kunai pack refilled. And a spar if at all possible. I need to get the kinks worked out after my stay at the hospital." he replied, pulling out his equipment. He had two short swords that I didn't recognize, yet another thing that surprised me about him, a short "butcher's" style trench knife, and a kunai pack that he handed to me.

"What kind of swords are those?" I really was curious. Being known as the weapons mistress of Konoha, it would look bad if I didn't recognize someone's swords.

"Oh, these old things? I picked up one in my travels and liked it so much that I decided to find it's forger and get a second to match my double sword fighting style." He started looking around the shop nodding in approval at what he saw. "You make excellent weapons. So, how much for the cleaning and supplies? And what about a spar?"

I had been examining the guy's swords for a few minutes now, falling in love with the design. It was short, maybe 2 feet at the most, and wide at the handle. It tapered down to a second hand hold on the blade, went out again, then tapered to a point.

"What's your name? It's needed to sign up for a match. And why did you decide on using the butcher style trench knife? It seems unwieldy."

"Takumi, and I'm guessing that your Tenten. The guy who recommended the shop said you would be working here. I like the butcher because of it's utility. Because of the single edge, I can use it for blocking heavy attacks and the stout designs allows it to be used in lieu of an axe. It's really quite practical." so he seemed to be knowledgeable, something I sometimes find lacking in my customers. I wonder how good he is at fighting? Might as well find out.

"What kind of spar are you looking for?" I ask.

"Melee weapons only, some sword on sword, followed by dodging exercises."

"Since it's kind of a slow day, why don't I help you out then?"

"You can fight? Maybe you should stick to cleaning, I don't want to hurt you." he said this with a twinkle in his eye, like he knew more than he was letting on, like he meant to piss me off. And it worked.

"Can I fight?" I scoffed, "I can fight well enough to beat the crap out of you, thats for sure."

"Prove it. If you best me in either fight, I'll acknowledge you as Konoha's weapon's mistress and the best weapons fighter in the country. If I best you..." he paused, giving me a piercing stare, "you clean my weapons and supply me for free."

"Deal." I didn't gain my reputation for nothing. I've been known to best jounin in straight on kenjutsu fighting, not too mention my specialty, long range thrown weapons.

"Hand over one of my swords, pick one of your own, and we can start on the first half. Oh, and if you prefer something other than a sword, I don't mind."

The first fight was over in seconds. He came at me with a crossover step confusing me as to his intended direction of attack, took a sweeping downward swing, and lunged forward, point out bypassing my guard and stopping half an inch from piercing my neck. I knew that he had to be at least jounin level in experience. "Wish to continue?" he asked in all seriousness. "I will not prevent a killing blow in the next attack." I politely declined. I had never been bested so easily by anyone like him.

I just hoped my throwing skills were up to the next challenge.

"I had been hoping that fight would last a little longer, I barley got warmed up. But looking at you, I'm not surprised." As much as I respected his skill, he really knew how to piss me off. I said so.

"Is it because I'm female, because I'm a girl? Do you really think that because I'm not a male that I can't stand up to your manly skills?" I paused. "no," I didn't let him start. "I hate people like you. People who can't see past the hair, or the chest, or the face, to see that we of the other sex can be just as strong, just as deadly as you males. Your kind make me sick."

What followed surprised the hell out of me. "Ha! Thats rich. And you blame me for judging people quickly. I merely meant that it was obvious that you had little experience in true close range sword fighting. While you know the basics, you're a little too mechanical, and you've never truly trained against an expert. It's not surprising, really. Most standard shinobi training avoids serious sword training in favor of stealth, ranged, and unarmed attacks. Not to mention ninjutsu and genjutsu. And it's obvious that you spend most of your time concentrating on ranged attacks. Speaking of which, are you ready to move on to the second portion of our spar?" needless to say, I was floored. He was right. Although after seeing his skill with the sword, I wasn't as confident about trying to hit him.

"Fine, I got the center dot, you stay on the outside, and try to avoid the pointy objects. I win, I prove myself as such, and you will address me as weapons mistress, you win I clean and supply your weapons. Oh, and no ninjutsu or genjutsu."

We started simply enough, one knife at a time. He stayed just out of reach. Some may think they were almost hitting him, some would think he's toying with them. I saw it for what it was. It was respect, high respect. He knew there was worse to come and respected me enough to save energy for it. Which worried me. We moved on to two at once, three, five, and then eight, throwing four from each hand, as fast as I could. Nothing. I finally got fed up and decided to use scrolls. They weren't technically ninjutsu, so I figured he wouldn't mind. And nothing touched him. I don't know how, but he _always_ found a hole. Always. It was truly amazing. His leg would move the few inches needed to miss 2 kunai, 3 shuriken, and a variety of other weapons. Ditto for his head, arms, and basically every part of him. We eventually had to stop, I was exhausted and out of weapons.

"So, looks like I win." at least he looked winded. "I have to admit, that was a hell of a workout. You would have to be one of the most accurate throwers I have ever seen."

I was still irritated. "Then why didn't I hit you?"

"Thats a good question. With a surprisingly simple answer. You weren't throwing projectiles fast enough. As in, the kunais were moving slow enough to give me time to dodge. Same with everything else." he was right, yet again. I have to admit I was at least curious as to who he was.

"And I think I may be able to help you with that. If you don't mind." Wait what?

"Wait, what? You're offering to train me?? I barely know you." did he seriously think I was just going to go off and train with a complete stranger?

"Not really train, I just wanted to show you a trick I picked up in my travels. I haven't been able to perfect it yet, probably never will, but it works in a pinch and might be just what you need to give you that extra edge. If you want, your sensei can supervise." I was interested. This guy seemed experienced. That's about when I noticed something strange. Don't know why I didn't notice it earlier, but it seemed obvious now.

"Where's your hitai-ite?"

"Don't have one." This guy was a whole box of mysteries.

"Why?" I've never heard of a ninja without a hitai-ite before.

"Never been truly allied to a village before." I've also never heard of a ninja without a village.

"You're not a Konoha-nin?"

"Not yet. I'm going to talk to the Hokage in a week about finding employment as such here though."

"Can she do that? I mean, don't you have to be a citizen or something?" I was surprised. I always thought that there had to be some kind of legal stuff that you had to go through.

"She is the Hokage. So I hope so. Do you still want me to teach that trick I was talking about or what?" I was surprised by the sudden change in the subject.

"Uh, yeah, I guess. I gotta talk to Guy, my sensei. Meet me tomorrow, here, at 8 in the morning?" Tomorrow was a Saturday, I shouldn't have to work.

"Sure, see you then." and with that he walked out, leaving his weapons. I actually found that I couldn't wait to see what he had in store.

**Thanks for reading.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hinata gets introduced. Third person. **

**'these are Takumi's thoughts'**

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything.**

Takumi was heading out of the weapons shop, contemplating the girl inside. He could see she had a lot of potential, he just needed to bring it out. He hoped the technique he knew would help. And he needed to find out about this Guy-sensei, hoping it wasn't the Might Guy that he'd heard of on the "street". Not that he had anything against Might Guy, it's just he had _heard_ that Guy could drive the most hardened sociopath insane.

He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't notice the little beige ball hurtling towards him till it ran into him.

'whats this?' He took a good look at the girl noticing her tears and hurt expression. He really didn't want to deal with a teary eyed baller right now.

For the girl's part, the instant she realized she wasn't running forward anymore she glanced up, showing her white pupiless eyes. 'Striking' was the only thing Takumi could think before she looked down, embarrassed, and muttered a quick, quiet, "g,g,go,gomen-n,n,nasai" and backed away trying to hide her pain and tears, as if she were insulting him by crying.

For some ineffable reason, this got to Takumi like not much else could. "Sorry? What for? Hey, little miss, are you okay?" 'what the fuck? where did "little miss" come from?' Needless to say, Takumi was confused. No girl had ever affected him like this, at least, not this quickly. 'Well, that's not true' he reflected, 'there was that one girl, but that's another story, and she was irreplaceable.'

"Y,yes. I, I'm fine. I am sorry f,f,for running into, into you. It won't happen again." she stuttered out, not looking up.

"You're lying. Why? There's no need to hide tears well shed. Or pain that needs to be shared." Takumi had decided direct was the way to go, correctness be damned.

She looked up, startled, tears forgotten, but not gone, for now. "T,tears well sh,shed?"

"Yeah, you know, like if whatever is making you upset is just so bad that it would be a shame not to cry. If you want I'll look away." he said, smiling. "I know that it's weird for stranger to ask this out of the blue, especially an older man, but do you want to talk?" he wondered what could get a hyuga upset like this. He'd heard that they were all pretty much a bunch of cold emotionless bastards. 'Not this one though.'

She shook her head timidly. "I,I have t,to go." she said, looking around aimlessly, like she was lost.

"Not if you don't want to." He felt like he needed to help this girl, if only because she seemed genuinely hurt. "Do you know Tenten?" I asked.

She nodded. "Let's see if she can get anything out of you." He lead/pulled the sniffling girl into the store calling for Tenten.

"What's up?" she asked. "Hey,it's you again. Why are," she finally noticed the crying form of the girl behind him. "Hinata!? Are you alright?? What did you do to her?" 'She obviously has the wrong impression. It would have been stupid of me to bring her in here if I had abused her.'

"She ran into me looking like this. I was hoping you could help calm her down. So she's Hinata Hyuga, the current heir."

At this the girl, Hinata, burst into more tears while trying to hide behind one of the shelves in the back.

"Hinata, whats wrong?" Tenten rushed over to the quivering form in the corner, trying to comfort her. It wasn't working. Hinata just kept rocking ever so slightly back and forth, sobbing.

Eventually getting fed up with the current situation, Takumi pulled off his large vest and layed it over the girl's back. Hinata immediately latched on to it, looking up slightly in surprise, the sobbing turning into sniffling for now.

"Alright, little miss, lets get you off that floor and to a real seat. Hey Tenten, you got any food or drinks?" Takumi started moving the girl up and towards the table as Tenten, mystified for now, hurried to comply.

As Hinata slowly calmed down and started to eat, Takumi took Tenten aside to talk to her.

"Any idea what could have upset her so bad? It could really help."

"Not much, maybe if Naruto rejected her, or her family," here she stopped.

"Her family what?" Takumi felt like he really needed to know.

"It's nothing, why don't we ask her? She seems to have calmed down." Takumi left it at that, knowing now was not the time to push. He did give Tenten a warning glance before he sat down, telling her to let him handle this for now. 'She'll set off little miss again if she says the wrong thing. What the hell? Where's this little miss thing coming from? Ah well, not important right now.'

"Hinata?" he asked, pausing delicately. She looked up pensive, as if she were going to be yelled at.

"You ever eat at the stand across the street?" She nodded looking confused.

"Did you like it?" Another nod. "I'm new in town, see, and I was looking for a good place to eat supper tonight, and I was just wondering what they served." Now Tenten, looked confused, wondering where he was going with this.

"D,dango's and ramen, b,but don't order the ramen. Ichiraku Ramen s,serves better for less."

"Where's your stutter?" asked Takumi smiling.

"I,it's gone!" Hinata exclaimed.

"Now that you're calmed down, why were you in the street?" Takumi asked calmly.

"I,I was running." she replied.

"From what?"

"I wanted to be somewhere quiet. I w,wanted to get away."

"What were you running from?" Takumi already had an idea, he just really hoped he was wrong.

"My house." 'She really isn't helping things with this timidness of hers. Not that I blame her, I'm a complete stranger.'

"Why were you running from your house?" He asked patiently, his theory being confirmed by the second.

Hinata glanced at Tenten, almost like asking for permission to speak. Tenten nodded in support. She looked back at the strange man and said, "m,my father th,threatened t,to disown m,me i,i,if I didn't sh,show proper h,h,hyuga behavior." 'Her stuttering is back full force. She hasn't dealt with this yet. I should push her consequences be damned. It'll be better in the long run.'

"What's proper hyuga behavior Hinata."

"I,I didn't u,use the caged bird s,seal on a branch m,member like I was ordered t,t,to." At this, Tenten gasped slightly, with a horrified look in her eyes. Hinata was bursting into tears again. "And I refused to h,hurt my s,s,sister in a s,spar." Hinata broke out sobbing harder than ever. Her body continued to shake as she seemed to just crumple in front of them.

"Did you do the right thing?" Takumi asked sternly.

"W,What?" Hinata said, once again startled out of her quiet, harsh sobbing.

"Did you do the right thing?" Takumi asked again. "If you did the right thing, why are you crying?"

"I don't understand."

"Why are you crying?" he asked a little more gently.

"Because I wasn't showing p,proper hyuga behavior." Takumi looked at her skeptically.

"Is that so? Is that true? Are you crying because you refused to cause unnecessary cruel torture to a fellow family member, because you refused to hurt your own blood? Is that why you're crying?" He continued to simply stare.

"I,I don't know." she did look confused.

"Why are you upset, Hinata?"

"Because I'm useless and weak!" She yelled. "I can't even fight my sister, I can't follow a simple order to discipline an unruly branch member, I can't even complete a simple mission right. I don't deserve to be heir, I don't deserve to be a ninja, and I don't deserve your kindness." she finished with a whisper. She seemed broken. 'She is broken. Who ever or what ever caused this is a monster.'

"Whether or not you deserve my kindness is not up to you. And if you're so worthless, why do you bother crying? And where did your stutter go?" 'This girl needs an intervention. And soon by the looks of things.'

"I,I c,cry because I,I'm weak and I can't do anything else." Hinata was looking down and didn't seem to be going anywhere soon.

"Crying doesn't make you weak." Tenten said trying to be helpful.

"If that is what you truly believe then you are not worth my time." Takumi said, getting up. "Thank you for helping Tenten, I will see you tomorrow. Hinata, if you ever need someone to talk to, I will make myself available. If, however, you choose to continue your path of self destruction, please don't bother. Good day." he finished, leaving.

"Wait, you're just going to leave? What the hell!" Tenten exclaimed.

"I'm not a good enough man to help her by myself. If I can help her, she will have to be able to help me help her. I'm sorry if I disappointed." With that, he left.

Hinata just sat seemingly in shock. Eventually, Tenten got her to get up and head home, leaving the weapons mistress shaking her head at her day.

**Thanks for reading.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Takumi's night out.**

**From Takumi's point of view.**

**disclaimer: don't own anything**

I can't believe it. One day, and I'm already getting involved in shit way over my standard pay grade. I'm planning an intervention for a timid clan heiress, training a weapon's mistress, and meeting with the Hokage in a week. What else could possibly happen?

I then realized my lack of place to sleep, which didn't matter too much at the moment, as I wasn't really planning to _sleep_ for the first few days. Getting settled into a new place and all that, I needed to check out some things before I decided to make myself easier to find. But it wouldn't hurt to start looking.

I also didn't have much cash on me. So, first stop, "offmarket" bank. Offmarket Banks is an organization of international, neutral, banks that offer the most secure accounts to private customers. They mostly serve rich business men, crime bosses, the uncommon criminal, and anyone else looking looking for a private, secure, cash only account. Their security doesn't really come from an extensive security force, or the most advanced vaults although they do have both. It comes from the fact that if you break into them, you better hope the bank gets to you before the clients who's money you stole do. This has become, in recent years, enough of a deterrent to stop even the most powerful governments from invading that privacy. Needless to say, I have an account there.

Like in all important cities, there were two Offmarket Banks locations, one in the upscale restaurant district for it's more respectable customers, and one on the edge between the warehouse and redlight district for the other customers. I chose the restaurant one, as I was getting hungry for dinner.

I entered saying, "withdrawal, from the sentetsu account, password, 'tofu ramen, please.'" Seeing my accounts in the same order I left them, I left the place with a larger wad of cash in my pocket, and headed towards an eatery.

After I had my fill, I headed to the warehouse district to hopefully find my new base of operations as it seemed I'd probably be staying here for an extended period of time.

I was hoping to find some place nondescript with a minimum of windows and easy to secure. I was also going to need quite a bit of space, a lot of power, good circulation and a litany of other things.

Taking a look around for a few hours, I finally stumbled on the place I was looking for. It was small by warehouse standards, but sturdy. It was located between two very large warehouses and was set a little back from the street, so it was nearly impossible to notice if you weren't looking for it. Solid block walls, a thick roof, and few windows made it easy to sound proof and secure. And it was more or less abandoned which meant all I had to do was aquire the deed and I would own it. Perfect.

Next on my list of things to do for the night was finding a place to sleep. Not permanent, I already had an idea of what I wanted for a permanent house, but someplace to stay for a couple of months while I worked things out. I knew that I could have modified the warehouse for that, as it was already in my plans to do so, but I really didn't have the time or materials for that right now. So I settled on a "you pay, no questions asked" apartment. It was crappy but sturdy, and once again easy to secure.

As soon as that was done, it was passed midnight and I knew it was time for some "mental maintenance" as a friend once put it. I made my way to the Hokage Monument, sat cross legged on one of the heads, and started meditating.

Hinata, as I thought of her, a cacophony of thoughts invaded my mind, even as a warm feeling invaded my chest. It meant I cared for her. I knew it wasn't true love yet, but if I didn't control and isolate it, it could progress to an attachment I couldn't afford right now. I liked her, she was humble, vulnerable, and I called her little miss. That little miss thing was really bad, corny, I knew, but it wouldn't go away. I definitely needed to get to know her better before I progressed with anything beyond the intervention. I'll deal with _that_ later. So, not true love, but definitely an attachment. I knew that even that could be dangerous. I need to be able to sacrifice her at a moments notice if it's for the greater good. Harsh, yes, but needed. This was one of the lessons I had learned over my life. In order to control this feeling once and for all, I would need to spend time with her to know the _true_ her, and accept or reject her when the time came. At about this time, my hormones and feelings retreated to the back of my head for now, leaving me to move on to the next mental puzzle.

Tenten, it's weird, all I've really met so far have been females. Sakura, Tsunade, Shizune, Tenten, Hinata. Yes, I liked the opposite sex, a lot. And not just for physical pleasure either. But still, it was weird. Anyways, Tenten. Nothing special there. I couldn't wait to teach her my trick, it would be cool to see what she would do with it and how far she could. She might even become the next sharpshooter. Need to keep my eye on that one. And I needed to see if she could help with the intervention. Onwards!

Tsunade, now here things are getting a little weird in my mind. I sense a great amount of power in her, and will to do right. But I also sense some pain and uncertainty in herself. And I smelled sake on her breath. I definitely need our next meeting to be in a bar. Judging from her reaction to me, I need to keep the intervention from her. Her assistant, Shizune, barely makes an emotional impression in my mind, so nothing to worry about there.

Now that I had my mind taken care of in regards to things in my new home, it was time to start on things abroad. I found that not much emotionally was going on there, so I decided to make a checklist of things to do before I met with the Tsunade. First I needed to make contact with the network, then start preparations for Hinata's intervention, and finally recall my squad from the deep field. I figured they would be needed here more than any where.

All of a sudden I started to smell a pine like smell. Sniffing further, I sensed some chemicals usually found in mens products. Realizing this belonged to an uninvited guest, I sent chakra to my eyes, amplifying my eye seeking the man. Right there, a little drop of dew. Perfect. Amplifying my sight further, I looked at the reflection of whatever was behind me in the drop. A shock of silver hair, a mask, an orange book. Must be him.

"You can come out now, Kakashi. I know you're there. Why don't you take seat here and relax." I said.

"I'm rather comfortable here, thanks." came the lazy reply.

"Suit yourself. Tsunade send you to watch me?" I waited for a reply. None was forthcoming.

"She really is a good leader, one I'm hoping to follow here soon, if possible. You can report that to her if you'd like, it'd save me the trouble. But I kinda have to question her judgment on this decision, sending the famous copy-nin to watch over little old me." I chuckled.

"'was supposed to be my day off." was all I got.

"Yeah, whatever. Hey, you know Hinata, the Hyuga heiress?" I ask.

"Yes, why?" he replied, never looking up from that book.

"I ran into her today. She was crying. Said her father had something to do with it." that got a reaction, unexpected as it was.

"What did the bastard do?" he asked, book forgotten.

"Supposedly tried to force her to use the caged bird seal." I heard the man utter some hard words at that one. Not that I blamed him if the caged bird seal was the one I had heard so much about. It was an abomination. A monstrous, unforgivable sin in my book.

"You know she sees herself as nothing? As weak thing to be disposed of?"

"Yeah, and?" He was suspicious of me, I could tell that much.

"She told me, you see. She said she didn't deserve my kindness. I think it might be holding her back. Preventing her from reaching her potential. You?" I really wanted some sort of opinion out of this laid back man.

"I know it is. Wish I could help her." He said with a strained shrug.

"I think it might lead to more. To worse. I got the distinct feeling she was getting to the point of hurting herself. I'm planning an intervention I was wondering if you could help." He would be an asset when it came time to put this whole thing in motion.

"Intervention?" at least until he was comfortable, he seemed to be a man of few words.

"Yeah, hey listen, I got a place I need to be in a few hours, so I have to go. You can shadow me if you need to fro the next day or so, so why don't we meet up this afternoon at Ichiraku and we can discuss it there, okay?"

"Fine, see you then." he made a hand sign and disappeared, leaving me to prepare for my training session with Tenten.

**Thanks for reading.**


End file.
